Will ‘American Idol’ Get Canceled Again?

American Idol is currently one of the biggest talent search shows on TV alongside other favorites such as The Voice and America’s Got Talent. However, even though it still carries a recognizable brand name, it’s no secret that these days American Idol is not garnering as much attention as it did in the past and is holding on by a thread.

After airing on Fox for 14 years, the show was canceled in 2016 only to get revived on ABC in 2018. Despite American Idol getting a second chance at life, many people seem to think it could get canceled again. So what exactly is going on? How does the future look for American Idol right now?

‘American Idol’ used to be the number one show in America

American Idol premiered in 2002 and was an instant hit with the audience everywhere in the country. The winner of the first season, Kelly Clarkson, became a household name and has gone on to record many hit singles.

The show continued to be extremely popular in the following years and, at one point, even was ranked number one for eight consecutive seasons. At its peak, it averaged around more than 30 million viewers during one season.

Aside from Clarkson, American Idol has helped several other singers find fame (whether they won the show or not), such as Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, Katharine McPhee, and Adam Lambert.

‘American Idol’ started losing viewers in the next decade

Somewhere around 2012 and 2013, American Idol slipped from its spot as the number one show.

One reason for this seems to be the fact that the series had lost its suspense. After several seasons of winners failing to hit it big while runner-ups (or even lower-ranking contestants) having managed to find more success, viewers began to realize that there was no point in watching to find out who would win if winning wasn’t even worth it.

Additionally, after the famous judging panel of Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson began to deteriorate around the turn of the decade, American Idol started having a revolving door of judges. Oftentimes, the judges were also hired for their fame and they ended up stealing the attention away from the contestants that people were actually watching for.

After consecutive seasons of low ratings, the show was cancelled on Fox in 2016.

‘American Idol’ revival on ABC has seen very low ratings

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ABC picked up American Idol in 2018 and implemented a new group of judges, but viewers are still complaining about the show as well as not tuning in overall.

Ratings for American Idol has hit an all-time low. Last year, its viewership only averaged out to be around 9.5 million per episode — quite a long way from the 30 million it used to receive.

Will ‘American Idol’ get canceled again?

It should be noted that while American Idol may not have much of the same success that it did in the early 2000s, it actually still brings in millions of viewers every week. A recent report from April 7, 2019, shows that American Idol still draws in more viewers than many other series that day. The only show that did better than American Idol was the Academy of Country Music Awards.

What it comes down to is whether or not ABC thinks it is worth keeping American Idol around. The show itself is very expensive to run with all the traveling to different cities and Katy Perry’s insanely high salary. Whether the network thinks that the ad revenue has been worth all of the expenses remains to be seen.

However, some fans believe that American Idol doesn’t need to be canceled — simply changed to adapt to what people want. Right now it seems like the show is just relying on having famous faces in the judging panel to draw viewers in, but what fans really want, however, is to see more talented people and more focus on the contestants themselves.

Ultimately, it is up to ABC to decide whether to keep American Idol around as it is, change up the show in order to compete with the likes of The Voice, or give it the ax altogether.